CRISP detects hot spots in wildlife reserve

Pontianak, West Kalimantan, September 6 – Singapore`s Satellite Centre for Remote Imaging Sensing and Processing (CRISP) on Wednesday detected six hot spots in a wildlife reserve in Kendawangan, Ketapang District, West Kalimantan Province.

The Singaporean CRISP also detected some a hot spot at a national park in Aur Kuning, Ketapang District, in the province, according to information from the West Kalimantan forestry service`s forest fire control unit here on Thursday.

There were a total 58 hot spots in West Kalimantan, and 42 of them were in Ketapang District. Some six hot spots in Bengkayang District, five hot spots in Pontianak District and another five hot spots in Sanggau district.

Head of the West Kalimantan Natural Resource Conservation Agency (BKSDA) Awen Supranata said that cloud seeding would continue be conducted to trigger rain in the forest fire areas. Awen Supranata said the cloud seeding process has been carried out from September 1-7, 2006, to put out forest fires among other things in Bengkayang, Sintang, Pontianak, Pontianak and Ketapang.

“About 20 tons of artificial salt are dropped every day to trigger cloud seeding. The success rate is around 80 percent,” he said.